Way We Were
by OfClumsyWords
Summary: Damon Salvatore finds himself in a coffee shop he's never been inside before in order to forget all the things that have happened recently. But as he catches a glance of a girl who looks exactly like someone from his past, he can't help but be reminded of his first true love that he lost nearly 90 years ago.
1. Chapter 1

**Title credit: The Way We Were by The Summer Set**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters from The Vampire Diaries. All I own are the other characters and the story line. :)**

**...**

Mystic Falls, Present Day.

As he looked around the semi-crowded coffee shop, he couldn't help but take a double take as he caught sight of a brunette girl all the way across the room. Normally he wouldn't even be in a place like this but found himself there since he needed to get away for a little while. It was only a few days after the latest drama that just occurred and it was stirring up more old memories and emotions than usual. He had thought that going to a coffee shop he had never seen before would help but as he walked inside it looked as if luck wasn't on his side at all as he took another glance at her. She looked exactly like a girl he had once known but there was no way that it was possibly her. They had met in the 1925 and that was nearly 90 years ago. By now she was an old woman, full of memories created over her years of life. She would be settled down and spending the last precious years of her life with her family before she passed on to rest, happy with her life accomplishments. But for some reason this young woman sitting at the other side of the room was her doppelgänger and was stirring up even more memories for him than before.

But he forced himself to tear his eyes away from her and walked through the room, stopping at the counter to decide on something to eat and drink. Once he placed his order and found a seat, he pulled out his phone to pretend he was doing something, when in reality he was just sneaking glances at the girl in the corner of his eye. She had her brown hair hanging straight down her back with bangs pushed to the side and wearing a skirt and short sleeved shirt tucked in with a pair of sandals. She was also reading The Great Gatsby which was ironic since that was her doppelgänger's favorite book. Only he knew that her book would be all beat up and worn by now since he had bought it for her when it was first published in 1925. But the girls book here looked fairly new and there was no way she had been born over 90 years ago. The girl didn't look a day over 20 and had her whole life ahead of her. No matter how much his mind was trying to convince him that it was truly her, he had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't. There was absolutely no way that it could be her. But that didn't stop the memories from flooding his mind as he took the first sip of his drink...


	2. Chapter 2

**Title credit: The Way We Were by The Summer Set. (Seriously an awesome song, gave the the inspiration to write this story, if you like looking up new music defiantly a suggestion! :))**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from The Vampire Diaries. All I own is the story line and the other characters. **

**Ok... So I'm obviously new to this site, I've read a lot here but this is my first story so bare with me. Haha. I'm only a newbie to TVD and only finished the last episode of season four about five days ago but my friends at school got me addicted to the series and I wanted to try and write a fanfic, so hopefully this won't turn out too bad. This is also my first TV series fanfic I've ever done, I've only done band fics before so I'm also nervous about that...**

**Anyway, thank you to all the readers so far and to ****_Cecily V_**** for writing my first review! Love you guys and enjoy! **

**...**

Baltimore, April 1925.

Letting the door of the Speakeasy slam shut, Damon Salvator sharply inhaled the cool spring air in attempt to clear his head a little. The large room hidden within the basement of the large warehouse that manufactured something Damon could care less about during the day. But at night, the building became The Stork, one of the most famous Speakeasies in Baltimore. But on that particular night, Damon felt suffocated in the large room. Any other night he was the life of the party, laughing and drinking and not worrying about anything until the morning came. But for some reason that night was different. That night he found himself bored as he listened to the idle chitchat of his friends. Though they weren't even really friends, more like acquaintances that he happened to feed on every now and then and take to his apartment if he needed certain - needs - met besides blood. Hey he was a guy after all and even if he was twice the age he actually looked, he still had urges. But that night, nothing, no interest in being around the same people almost every night.

So now he found himself walking down the block, away from the Speakeasy and then turned left at then end of the block and beginning to wander aimlessly through the beautiful city. He had found himself in Baltimore completely in a whim nearly two months ago. But after two days, he found himself looking for an apartment and able to get used to life in a new city, something that had never happened so quickly before. The city seemed to steal his heart right from the start and after exploring nearly all of the States, he seemed to like this city the best.

Damon suddenly found himself in the harbor facing the bay. The water of the Chesapeake gently rolled in, making slight noise as it made contact with the sand and stone at the edge of the shore. Birds also flew and above in the cloudless moonlit sky, the sound of flapping wings also adding to the rhythmic sound of the waves. As he walked along the shore, he pulled off his shoes and rolled up his pants up so he could walk next to the waters edge. Damon was so deep in thought that he hadn't realized that he wasn't the only one on the beach until he caught sight of a figure sitting on the waters edge. He stopped walking to just stare a moment, his heightened eyesight allowing him to see better than an average human and he could make out a few features and determine that it was a woman. She must not have noticed him because she continued to stare out to the water as if she had a lot on her mind. Her legs were in the water, but she moved slightly and then pulled her knees up to her chest. Only, as Damon looked closer, they weren't legs at all. Instead of smooth skin and feet, she had scales like a fish and a fin at the end, like an honest to God mermaid. He hadn't even known that they had existed until then, the stories being only strictly fairy tales like witches and werewolves. The only species out of the two he knew for a fact that existed were witches since he had met a handful of them since he had been introduced that world over 60 years ago. But now it seemed like he was being introduced to a new species as he continued to stare at the very real mermaid in front of him. He knew for a fact that it was real too since he had neither smoked or drank anything that night and was as sober as he had ever been in his life.

He must have said something out loud since suddenly she snapped her head in his direction and their eyes met. She was even more beautiful now that he had a proper look at her. The moons light was shining on her just right so that he could make out her features and blue eyes and wet brown hair hanging down her back. Damon took an involuntary step towards her and her expression changed from worried to terrified and in one fluid motion jumped into the water and disappeared underneath the waves. Leaving Damon alone and confused as he stared at the place she had just been, trying to understand what exactly just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title credit: The Way We Were by The Summer Set**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters from The Vampire Diaries. All I own is the story line and the other characters.**

**...**

Three days after he had first seen her Damon finally convinced himself to go back to the beach. So he reached out to link with the first crow he could find -a skill he realized he could do a while after he had become a vampire- linking with it and sending it flying into the air into the Baltimore night sky. Even though he was still in his apartment, lying on his bed, he could still feel, see, and hear everything that the crow did. The first time that he had done this it had scared him so much -to be in someone else's body even though he was still in his own- and had sworn he would never do it again. But curiosity got the better of him and he slowly started to teach himself how to control the bird and do what he wanted it to do and soon he was the master of it. No one worth knowing knew about this, not even his brother, though honestly that was the way he wanted it to stay.

After the first night he had first seen her he couldn't keep his mind off of her, though didn't know what to do about it. Linking with the bird to go back seemed like the best possible answer for that moment since the first time she had seen him she had gotten scared and disappeared beneath the water. He really didn't want that to happen again. Damon actually wanted to get to know her, and even though he knew that this probably wasn't the best way to do so, it was the only way he had for that moment.

So he just continued with his plan, soaring through the air, feeling the breeze blow through his city below was lit with street lamps outlining the streets and buildings making it look so small from high above. Every so often a car would drive down a street towards their destination, but for being nearly midnight obviously not a lot of people were out. The air was warm and sweet after all the rain the city had gotten and the puddles left over from the rain reflected the light adding to the little spots of light below him. It was a beautiful sight to see but there were more important things to be focusing on than the scenery.

The beach where he had seen her three days ago was less than a mile from his apartment so before he knew it he was flying over the miles of sand on the edge of the water. He kept his gaze down, looking early for her, scanning every inch of the beach below. He found her in the same spot she had been in the last time he had been there and swooped down, gracefully landing on his feet a few yards from her.

She looked exactly like she did the first time. Long wet brown hair hanging down her back and bluish grey fin bent where her knees would be if she had legs and pulled up to her chest, gazing out into the water. At first she didn't notice him, but as he slowly inched closer to her, she turned her head and stared at him for a few moments as if she didn't recognize what he was. But then a smile grew on her lips and she reached out towards him with a sweet hello and he hopped over to her with bravery. Normally, the crow would be trying to resist Damon from commanding it forward around other people since they were usually skittish, but this crow had no problem approaching her and allowed her to touch the side of his head gently with her finger when he was within her reach.

"Hello Mr. Crow, what are you doing out here all by yourself? Shouldn't you be with your flock?" She asked.

All Damon could do was cock his head to the side and blink even though he had been about to respond. But he quickly remembered that he was a crow and not himself and that the girl in front of him had been too afraid of him to talk to him. This was probably as good as it was going to get as far as talking to her and getting a response went. So he just blinked once again and gave a loud caw in return.

She scoffed at herself, and rolled her eyes as she touched his cheek again. "There I go again, talking to animals. I must be going crazy like everyone has been saying."

Damon simply cawed again, as if to protest against her being crazy.

"You agree with me too then don't you? I am crazy." She sighed slightly and turned her gaze to the water in front of her. It was another peaceful night, the waves gentle and small and the moon turning the surface of the water into glass, reflecting the sky above.

They sat in silence, Damon inching a little closer to her and both of them staring out into the water. She seemed like she had a lot on her mind and she came here in order to think it all through. Damon was the same way though. He often came to the beach or to the little garden on the roof of his apartment building to think. There was a bench facing the sea and dim lamps lining the roof and he would often bring a book and sit there to think or escape from the world. It was alway calming and peaceful and he found himself doing so more and more because of past memories and mistakes resurfacing after he had thought that he had buried them away. But thoughts of his brother, father, everything he tried to forget was coming back and haunting him. And linking with the crow had been the only way to get his mind off everything, and so far it was working.

When the sun was slowly beginning to rise of the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant colors, she turned to Damon and sighed slightly as she reached out to pet his feathers once again. "Ok Mr. Crow, I better be going, it was very nice to meet you and keep me company. Maybe you'll come visit again?"

Damon cawed and tilted his head up and down as if to agree and then shot up into the air, banking towards the left and heading back into the sky. He let go of his hold on the crow and opened his eyes and stared at his ceiling in his apartment slightly, thinking about his night. Sitting up and turning slightly, he looked out the window to the water a few blocks away. A small smile grew on his face as he thought about his night, relieved to forget about all the thing haunting him at least for a little while.

**...**

**Hey there guys! So I kind of hate the ending of this... But I ran out of juice and I kind of wanted to put something up because I kind of disappeared... Yeah sorry about that. Anyway, hopefully it wasn't as bad as I think it was anyway.**

**So the whole thing with controlling the crow was something that I had read before and decided to make my own version. The TV show never really does anything with the crows besides having them appear for like the first few episodes in season one and then nothing. I haven't read much of the books except for like the first 30 pages of the first one so I don't know if the book elaborated on it much more but I remember that the crow and fog was in that one also. Anyway, so rambling done, hopefully you guys are liking this so far. I'd love to hear what you guys think so far. Again sorry it took me so long to update, things have been a little crazy at the moment. Thanks for reading!**


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